10/30/09 Film clips

OPENED TUESDAY

"MICHAEL JACKSON'S THIS IS IT" -- A compilation of interviews, rehearsals and backstage footage of Michael Jackson as he prepared for his series of sold-out shows in London. Directed by Kenny Ortega. (PG for some suggestive choreography and scary images.)

OPENING TODAY

"THE GIRL FROM MONACO" -- A lawyer gets involved with a TV weathergirl/sexpot while defending a woman accused of stabbing her mafioso boyfriend in this French thriller. Directed by Anne Fontaine. Starring Fabrice Luchini, Roschdy Zern and Louise Bourgoin. (R for some sexual content and language.)

TODAY-SATURDAY ONLY

"HALLOWEEN II" -- Director Rob Zombie's follow-up to his remake of the 1978 John Carpenter classic continues the saga of masked killer Michael Myers and his poor, beleaguered sister. Starring Tyler Mane, Scout Taylor-Compton and Malcolm McDowell. (R for strong brutal bloody violence throughout, terror, disturbing graphic images, language, some crude sexual content and nudity.)

HELD OVER

"ALL ABOUT STEVE" -- Sandra Bullock stars as an eccentric crossword puzzle expert who falls for a TV cameraman and follows him around the country. Also starring Bradley Cooper and Thomas Haden Church. Directed by Phil Traill. (PG-13, for sexual content including innuendos.)

"ASTRO BOY" -- Set in futuristic Metro City, "Astro Boy" is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist in the image of the son he has lost. Starring the voices of Nicolas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson, Charlize Theron and Freddie Highmore. Directed by David Bowers. (PG for some action and peril, and brief mild language.)

"CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY" -- Michael Moore's latest documentary explores the increasingly large role corporate America has played in government and the resulting financial crisis. Starring Moore and assorted victims, heroes and scoundrels of the financial meltdown. (R, for language.)

"CIRQUE DU FREAK: THE VAMPIRE'S ASSISTANT" -- A young boy meets a mysterious man at a freak show who turns out to be a vampire. After a series of events, he must leave his normal life and go on the road with the Cirque du Freak and become a vampire. Starring John C. Reilly, Chris Massoglia and Josh Hutcherson. Directed by Paul Weitz. (PG-13 for sequences of intense supernatural violence and action, disturbing images, thematic elements and some language.)

"CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS" (3-D) -- A town copes with food falling from the sky in this animated take on the beloved children's book. With the voices of Anna Faris, Bill Hader, James Caan, Mr. T. and Tracy Morgan. Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller. (PG, for brief mild language.)

"COUPLES RETREAT" -- Four married couples (among them Vince Vaughn, Malin Akerman, Jason Bateman, Kristin Davis and Jon Favreau) vacation at a tropical resort, not realizing that marriage counseling is mandatory there. Directed by Peter Billingsley. (PG-13, for sexual content and language.)

"FAME" -- Students sing, dance and dream of stardom in a reimagining of the hit film and TV show about a school for performing arts. Starring Debbie Allen, Kelsey Grammer, Asher Book, Kristy Flores, Paul McGill and Naturi Naughton. Directed by Kevin Tancharoen. (PG, for thematic material including teen drinking, a sexual situation and language.)

"INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS" -- Brad Pitt heads an ensemble cast as a cigar-chompin' Army lieutenant who leads a pack of Jewish soldiers on a let's-get-the-Nazis hunt through occupied France in director Quentin Tarantino's rewrite of World War II. Also starring Christoph Waltz, Melanie Laurent, Mike Myers, Eli Roth, Daniel Bruhl and Diane Kruger. (R, for strong graphic violence, language and brief sexuality.)

"THE INVENTION OF LYING" -- Ricky Gervais stars in a comic fantasy about a man who discovers the value of fibbing in a world where everyone tells the truth. Also starring Jennifer Garner, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill and Jason Bateman. Directed and written by Gervais and Matthew Robinson. (PG-13, for language including some sexual material and a drug reference.)

"JENNIFER'S BODY" -- Megan Fox is a cheerleader possessed, who starts killing off her male classmates in this horror comedy written by Diablo Cody, the writer of "Juno." Also starring Amanda Seyfried, Adam Brody and Chip Simmons. Directed by Karyn Kusama. (R, for sexuality, bloody violence, language and brief drug use.)

"LAW ABIDING CITIZEN" -- An imprisoned man targets a prosecutor who orchestrated a plea bargain for the killer of his wife and daughter. Starring Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Viola Davis, Colm Meaney and Leslie Bibb. Directed by F. Gary Gray. (R, for strong bloody brutal violence and torture, a scene of rape, and pervasive language.)

"MORE THAN A GAME" -- LeBron James and four high school teammates tell the story of their friendship and ensuing lives in this documentary about the roots of an NBA superstar. Also starring Romeo Travis, Dru Joyce, Sian Cotton and Willie McGee. Directed by Kristopher Belman. (PG, for brief mild language and incidental smoking.)

"THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS" (3-D) -- In this holiday classic, Jack Skellington, king of Halloweentown, discovers Christmas Town but doesn't quite understand the concept. With the voices of Chris Sarandon and Catherine O'Hara. Directed by Henry Selick. (PG for some scary images.)

"PANDORUM" -- Astronauts awaken from cryogenic sleep aboard a spaceship and can't remember who they are or what their mission is. Starring Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster and Cam Gigandet. Directed by Christian Alvart. (R, for strong horror violence and language.)

"PARANORMAL ACTIVITY" -- After moving into a suburban home, a couple becomes increasingly disturbed by a nightly demonic presence. Starring Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat. Directed by Oren Peli. (R for language.)

"SAW VI" -- Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw's legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw's grand scheme is finally understood. Directed by Kevin Greutert. (R for sequences of grisly bloody violence, torture and language.)

"THE STEPFATHER" -- A teenager returns home to find that his mother is living with a new boyfriend, whom he suspects of harboring dark intentions. Starring Sela Ward, Dylan Walsh, Penn Badgley and Amber Heard. Directed by Nelson McCormick. (PG-13, for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, mature thematic material and brief sensuality.)

"SURROGATES" -- In the future, where people live in isolation and interact through their robots, a cop must leave his home to investigate a murder. Starring Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, James Cromwell and Ving Rhames. Directed by Jonathan Mostow. (PG-13, for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, language, sexuality and a drug-related scene.)

"TOY STORY 1 and 2" (3-D) -- Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are back as the voices of Woody and Buzz in a 3-D double-feature of the movies that started the computer animation craze. "Toy Story" directed by John Lasseter; "Toy Story 2" directed by Lasseter and Ash Brannon. Both feature the voices of John Ratzenberger, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn and Jim Varney; "Toy Story 2" adds Joan Cusack and Kelsey Grammer to the mix. (Both rated G.)

"WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE" -- A boy named Max journeys to a land of wondrous creatures in director Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's beloved picture book. Based on a screenplay by Jonze and novelist Dave Eggers. Starring Forest Whitaker, Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo and Catherine O'Hara. (PG, for mild thematic elements, some adventure action and brief language.)

"WHIP IT" -- Drew Barrymore directs and co-stars with Ellen Page as a small-town beauty queen turned roller-derby ruffian. Also starring Marcia Gay Harden, Juliette Lewis and Kristen Wiig. (PG-13, for sexual content including crude dialogue, language and drug material.)

"ZOMBIELAND" -- A fearless gun lover and a scaredy cat join forces in a world overrun by flesh-eating zombies in this horror comedy. Starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin and Emma Stone. Directed by Ruben Fleischer. (R, for horror violence/gore and language.)

-- Compiled by the Yakima Herald-Republic